Wow, 2014 was a whirlwind of a year filled with big shows, new workshops and many, many gigs.

My keyword for last year was PRESENT and I think I did.

I premiered my first large-scale improvised composition, Between: A Journey Through the Middle (which was later broadcast on KFAI). I began performing regularly with two groups (BLU-7 and the Give Get Sistet) and I launched a workshop series and collaborated with, instructed and performed with new and returning singers.

My keyword for last year was PRESENT and I think I was. *smile*

The fact that the whole year is a bit of a blur (the way a good improv often is) suggests I was really in the moment for a lot of the year.

…

As I began to think about my word for 2015 (it usually occurs to me to start ruminating around Thanskgiving), I once again thought about what I would like the year ahead to hold, what word could work for the whole year and also what word might push me a little bit.

In other words, what did I want to be/do in 2015?

Immediately, I realized that I want to share more of the music I create with more people, i.e. finally complete and share some of the footage and recordings I’ve been gathering over the past few years.

I also realized that I wanted the year ahead to hold … less.

Not less music or singers or gigs (never less music!), but less physical stuff.

This might be cabin fever (or spring cleaning sneaking up early), but as I said in this post four (!) years ago, I feel the need to make space. (Keep an eye out for the Songtaneous garage sale. I’m only half kidding.) And maybe less other stuff, too. I want to be more mindful in choosing what projects and responsibilities I take on.

With all that in mind, my keyword for 2015 is RELEASE.

release v.

to free from anything that restrains, fastens, etc.; to give up in favor of another; to give over possession or control of

release n.
the releasing of something for publication, performance, use, exhibition, or sale; the state of being freed

I’m not sure what RELEASE will look like as the year progresses, but at the moment, it has me moving through my apartment and selecting things that will move to a new home. And when the part of me that wants to hang onto something comes up, I gently prompt it to release. I remind myself that hanging on to stuff that I might – but don’t actually – use likely stops up energy in some way. It also helps me to think that someone is out there wanting and hoping for the exact thing that I am letting go.

Besides, if can I let go of the things I sort of want, perhaps I can make room for the things I really want.

My friends and family are jumping on the keyword bandwagon, too. (Feel free to borrow a word you like.)

explore, allow, willing, thrift, start, finish, rejuvinate, birth, flourish, savor, simplify, balance, create, dare, abundance, discover, nourish, nurture, wellness, health, perform, discipline, shimmer, wealth, empower, embody, authentic, rebound, be, imperfect, share, focus, present …

Day/night map of the earth at the 2014 Winter Solstice. Image credit: Earth and Moon Viewer

As a MN resident and a tolerate-r of winter, I am a big fan of the winter solstice. Once the solstice passes and winter “begins,” the amount of daylight begins to increase slowly heading us toward days with filled with more hours of sunlight.

Plenty of reason to celebrate in my book, but my visit this summer from my astronomer friend C got me wondering about this astrological phenom so I did some quick research.

• This year’s winter solstice will occur at 5:03 CST on December 21st. (The time is calculated mathematically as it would be “virtually impossible” to observe.
• Solstices are caused by the tilt of the earth on its axis (23.5˚) — not our planet’s distance from the sun.
• On winter solstices the northern half of the earth tilts away from the sun, on summer solstices, this hemisphere tilts toward it.
• The winter and summer solstices are “reversed” in the southern hemisphere. In other words, December 21st is the summer solstice (because the southern hemisphere tilts toward the sun on this date and away in June).
• Your shadow at noon is longest on the winter solstice (and shortest on the summer one).
• Everyone north of 66.5 degrees latitude on Sunday’s Solstice will receive 24 hours of continuous darkness.
• This December’s solstice coincides with a new moon. On a new moon, the lit half of the moon is facing entirely away from earth i.e. we can’t see it *smile*. (To put it another way,  it will be a long, dark night.)
• In the northern hemisphere, the pagan celebration of Yule happens on the winter solstice. On of the oldest known celebrations, Yule observes the beginning of winter and the rebirth of the sun.
• At sunrise at Stonehenge on the summer solstice, the rising sun appears behind one of the main stones creating the illusion that the sun is balancing on the stone.
• The first person-ed mission to reach the moon was launched on the Winter Solstice in 1968.

Image credit: NASA / Bill Anders / Apollo 8.

There’s always a lot to do when you captain your own ship. (An entrepreneurship, that is.) And it can be easy to wander down side roads or to lose focus. So about a year and a half ago, I took this online class centered on business planning. The format of the course talked about dividing your projects into areas of devotion.

Picking areas to which to devote my time and energy made a world of sense to me. It also felt more fluid and forgiving than the action plans and S.M.A.R.T goals of my past. I liked the idea of areas since I like to focus on one thing at a time, but I also liked the idea of being devoted to the projects on which I worked. As I continue my performing/teaching/improvising career, the language seems more and more apt.

Seven years ago, I worked a 9 to 5 6 job that I liked well enough and was pretty good at. My music life and my work life, however, were very separate from each other, too. And consequently the people in my lives were also pretty separate from each other. Now there’s a lot more crossover among the people and areas of my life – students come to shows and audience members show up at community sings. Collaborators become students and instructors become collaborators. The word co-worker has a whole new meaning. (As my friend A says, I get paid to play with other adults. *smile*)

An outsider might look at my current career and see nothing but chaos, but it makes an improvised kind of sense to me. I move through cycles of productivity and work during “windows of momentum.” Start-ups and cool-downs are part of how it all works. I grow and have breakthroughs. And I get to watch other people grow and have them, too. *smile*

I am devoted to singing and singing, in turn, has showered me with more blessings than I can count. I am thankful for all the singers, players and people that my music-making has brought into my life (including you!).